South DAME- St. Mary’s College reversed a new plan last week to accept transgender students for entrance to the previously all-female Catholic university after weeks of controversy.
The non-discrimination policy of the South Bend college was updated in June to state that academic applicants whose “sex is sexual or who regularly live and identify as women” would be taken into consideration.
Katie Conboy
Katie Conboy is the leader of St. Mary’s College, a South Bend school that is exclusively for women. Submitted image by St. Mary’s College
After President Katie Conboy made the policy change government in an email to faculty, staff, and students, it garnered national attention in November.
Days later, St. Mary’s board of trustees was urged to “reject female ideologies that contradict the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church” and” proper its admissions plan” by Indiana Bishop Kevin Rhoades, whose province includes South Bend.
The committee complied on December 21. Conboy and the committee leader stated in a text to the Saint Mary’s College area that it had “become increasingly obvious… that the place we took is not shared by all members of our community.”
The text reads, “Some concerned that this was much more than just a plan choice; they felt it dilution of our mission or even threatened our Catholic identity.” “As this past month went on, we lost people’s trust and unknowingly caused section where we had hoped for unification.” We sincerely apologize for this.
The university’s change of course was praised by those who opposed the previous policy, who claimed that allowing males who identify as ladies into an all-female university violated Catholic doctrine.
Bishop Kevin Rhoades
South Bend is a part of Indiana Bishop Kevin Rhoades ‘province, and he resisted St. Mary’s College on Monday by allowing trans individuals. The Diocese of Fort Wayne- South Bend provided the picture.
Bishop Rhoades wrote in an empty letter, “The desire of Saint Mary’s College to extend kindness to people who identify as trans is not the problem.” A Catholic person’s school adopting a description of woman that is not Catholic is the issue.
According to Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, a Catholic LGBTQ advocacy class, those in favor of the previous plan argue that the reversal sets an unsafe precedent for transgender individuals who currently experience true bias inside the church.
She claimed that St. Mary’s table largely gave in to pressure. It simply demonstrates how frequently transgender folks are used as scapegoats in our culture and religion. It’s disheartening that the panel abandoned its steadfast belief that this was the proper course of action.
There are only two females, according to the majority of Catholics. According to a survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute this year, 69% of white Catholics and 66% of Hispanic Christians share this opinion.
St. Mary’s will hold a number of listening periods in response to the discussion to “examine what it means to accept our ideals as sane womens ‘colleges.”
Conboy wrote in the notice, “We will continue to work toward understanding how a school like ours can be truly home—a area of open windows and open hands, where people, with all their differences intact, belongs.”
The policy change, which aims to make the church more equitable while upholding its tight ban on gay marriage, was made just days after Pope Francis officially approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples.
According to Duddy-Burke of DignityUSA, it all demonstrates how the temple is juggling LGBTQ problems.
She stated, “My feeling is that dealing with sex identification is really innovative for Catholic institutions.” “However, parties that attempt to navigate this to the right side of history are paying the price.”
